E85 installations slow; lack of UL rating cited

Growth of E85 stations nationwide has slackened as retailers wait for dispenser standards to be issued by Underwriters Laboratories, the deputy director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition told GateHouse News Service, in an article by Tim Landis published on June 24.corn

Installations of new E85 dispensers should pick up once the UL issues new standards for ethanol dispensing equipment, Michelle Kautz, deputy director of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC), based in Jefferson City, Mo.

According to industry and trade groups there are approximately 1,200 stations with E85 dispensers in the U.S.

Last fall UL, a not-for-profit research group based in Northbrook, Ill., announced that its safety certification for dispensing equipment did not apply in cases where the fuel being dispensed contained more than 15 percent alcohol, including corn-based ethanol.

UL develops safety standards for more than 19,000 product types including gasoline and fuel dispensing systems. E85 is a highly concentrated blend of ethanol and gasoline. UL said it has been working to establish safe dispenser standards that guard against the significantly different corrosive effects of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) as compared with both gasoline alone as well as the 10 percent ethanol blend commonly available in the U.S. today.

UL has said it expects to finalize research and publish certification requirements by the end of the fourth quarter of 2007. Then it would be prepared to accept E85 dispensing equipment for evaluation and, if it meets standards, certification.

Meanwhile, the NEVC continues to campaign for increased production and use of E85.

On June 7, Phillip J. Lampert, NEVC’s executive director, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. To advance the use of E85, he said, there should be federal financial incentives to assist with offsetting the cost of new or converted infrastructure. “These may be provided in the form of grants... or as an increase in the existing federal income tax credit,” he said.

Lampert also called for “a much stronger emphasis being placed on the provision of technical support, marketing support, and promotional assistance to new and existing E85 vendors” and “the massive introduction of Flexible Fuel Vehicles into the nation’s auto and light-duty truck sectors.”